Europe’s populist movement was given a shot in the arm on Saturday when Czech Republic President Milos Zeman, running primarily on an anti-migration platform, fended off a challenge from political neophyte Jiri Drahos…

Zeman, a former left-wing prime minister who ascended to the presidency in 2013, had been widely criticized for what critics described as Islamophobic rhetoric, and had also raised concerns in Western Europe by taking a distinctly pro-Russian approach on questions such as the annexation of Crimea.

Zeman, who has warned of an “organized invasion” of migrants and asked why young men fleeing their country didn’t take up arms and fight back home, had embraced the populist wave that swept through the West in 2016. FoxNews

Cooperate

In a message of congratulations, European Council President Donald Tusk wrote: “I trust that your country will continue to play an active and constructive role within the European Union.”

The former Polish prime minister, who has tried to calm mounting frictions between the wealthier governments in the west and the formerly-communist EU states in the east, highlighted his own efforts to get the bloc to “better respond to European citizens’ concerns” — a nod to popular worries over issues such as immigration.

The head of the EU’s executive European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, echoed Tusk’s appeal for cooperation.

“In an increasingly polarized and complex world, we need to build bridges within and between countries,” he wrote. Reuters